It’s in the Details: Vanessa Joy’s Metal-Printed Wedding Photos

Over the course of her career, photographer Vanessa Joy has established thoughtful and elegant practices to capture her clients’ engagement sessions and weddings, taking special care to document the details the couple has worked hard to bring to fruition for their special day. From flowers to tablescapes, Joy preserves the ephemeral details of each wedding, and has found that it’s often these types of images her couples fall in love with. Joy has also had her wedding-detail photos featured on popular blogs such as Style Me Pretty and Off Beat Bride.

Images from two weddings photographed by Joy, including detail shots from a rustic wedding by couple Caitlyn and Gene. Printed on 8 x 8-inch Black River Imaging Metal Prints.

In September 2014, two of Joy’s clients, Caitlyn and Gene, were married in an elegant and rustic wedding in Monmouth Hills, New Jersey. The event is one of Joy’s recent favorites due to the many elements she had to work with, such as the bride’s pearl jewelry, the couple’s wedding invitation and a vintage photograph of a family wedding. She says, “I try to look for things that will give a little bit more character than just a pair of shoes. Sometimes that’s all I have, but if I can, I will grab certain elements to pull into them in.” Joy also considers the final color palette of the photographs in the album and wall art her clients will be receiving. “I try to keep a fairly consistent look to all of my pictures, and that of course includes the details, too. One of the things I like to do when I first arrive is check what color the bridesmaids’ dresses are and if somehow I can pull in a color, the same color or a similar color, then I know the pictures are going to look good in the album,” she says.

8 x 8-inch Metal Prints of couple Gina and Mike.

Having a vision from the beginning is important to Joy, and she encourages her clients to consider final artwork, and how it will fit their homes. Working frequently in the New York metropolitan area, she has a range of clients with varied tastes. She shoots both sleek and rustic weddings and is careful to inquire about her clients’ homes and how her work will best fit their existing décor. “I’m always trying to get clients to consider things that they’d put up on their wall or put around their home as more art pieces, not just staple ‘Hey this is my wedding’ photos,” she says. “When they’re decorating parts of their house like side tables, detail pictures are a lot of fun. It’s a way to have wedding photos around [that aren’t all of the] bride in a wedding dress—it can be other little details that are more subtle and artful.”

For these photographs, Joy works with Black River Imaging and provides the company’s Metal Prints. “My clients like having something unique and something that they can show off to their friends. Metal Prints aren’t something that my clients can typically find anywhere else so they love decorating their homes with them,” she says. Joy especially likes the 8 x 8-inch format (which, she points out, is also a great scale when couples are ordering Metal Prints as gifts) and appreciates Black River Imaging’s different metal-printing options. “[There’s] vibrant metal that is super chic and stylish and is perfect for a New York wedding, but then I have other clients who have barn weddings,” she says. “Those clients that have a little bit more subdued taste that want maybe a little bit more vintage look, they love the metallic fade with a matte finish.” The fade effect, she says, lets some of the metal texture show for a “really pretty” effect. No matter what their personal style and printing preferences are, Joy always has a unified vision for her brides and grooms. She says: “My goal is to provide my couples with romantically whimsical wedding photos that are timeless and tell their love story.”

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